Israel told to tread carefully

ISRAEL violated Lebanon’s sovereignty with a “dangerous military escalation” along the frontier on Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said yesterday as he urged caution after a rise in border tension.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would do “everything necessary” to defend itself, a day after saying Israeli forces had thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to infiltrate across the frontier. The Iranian-backed Shia group denied this.

A witness in Lebanon counted dozens of Israeli shells hitting the disputed Shebaa Farms area on Monday. No casualties were reported.

“I call for caution in coming days because I fear the situation will deteriorate in light of heightened tensions on our border,” Diab said on Twitter.

Israel was trying to “change the rules of engagement”, he said.

Lebanon’s government tasked the foreign minister with filing a complaint about the “Israeli assault on the south” to the UN Security Council.

Samir Geagea, the leader of the opposition Lebanese Forces Party, said Monday’s military activity along the border with Israel was a clear indication that the Lebanese government, which Hezbollah supported, didn’t have sovereignty in the south, along Israel’s border, where thousands of UN peacekeepers were based.

Geagea blamed Hezbollah and its allies for the deteriorating economy and relations with Arab countries.

Israeli forces have been on alert along the border in anticipation of Hezbollah retaliation for the killing of one of its members a week ago in an alleged Israeli attack on the edge of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Visiting Israel’s northern military headquarters yesterday, Netanyahu said Israeli forces would continue to take action “to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in the region”.

His comment suggested that attacks in Syria, where Hezbollah fighters are deployed to support President Bashar al-Assad, would continue.

“We will do everything necessary to defend ourselves and I suggest to Hezbollah that it take that simple fact into account,” Netanyahu said.

Israel sees the presence of Hezbollah and Iran in Syria as a strategic threat, and has mounted raids on Iranian-linked targets there.

But Hezbollah’s deputy leader said an all-out war with Israel was unlikely.